East Sacramento and McKinley Village: Keep those yellow signs up! A lawsuit has been filed!

Foes of the planned McKinley Village subdivision in east Sacramento filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the city’s environmental review process and its decision to build 336 homes on a site it says is better suited to heavy industry.

The Sacramento City Council approved the project April 29 by a 6-3 vote, praising its design and the work done by developers, led by former state treasurer Phil Angelides, to address numerous concerns of neighbors and officials.

But in a complaint filed in Sacramento Superior Court, a group called East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City alleges city officials failed to adequately address air quality,traffic congestion and other issues associated with the project. The council’s approval of McKinley Village violated the California Environmental Quality Act and city zoning laws, the group claims.

“Although the Project was promoted by the Developer as a sustainable ‘infill’ development project, in reality, it consists of wedging a residential complex into a corner of the City that is utterly inappropriate for that use,” the complaint says.

“The Site is adjacent to a landfill site and surrounded by the Capital City Freeway (I-80) on one side and by the Union Pacific Railroad’s elevated embankments and tracks on the other side. As a result, future residents of the Project will be exposed to unacceptable health and safety risks.”

The complaint asks the court to order the city to rescind its approval of the project, to prepare a revised environmental impact report and to issue an injunction halting its progress.

Call The Bee’s Hudson Sangree, (916) 321-1191.

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